After insisting on multiple occasions since coming over to the UFC that the drug testing he’s had to undergo won’t be an issue, Alistair Overeem tested positive for elevated testosterone levels, it was revealed Wednesday, and it could cost him his shot at the UFC heavyweight title in May.
Not to mention his job.
Overeem was scheduled to face champion Junior Dos Santos in the main event of UFC 146 in Las Vegas on May 26, but he failed his pre-fight drug test taken following the press conference last week to promote the event.
In an email Wednesday afternoon, Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer wrote: “Mr. Overeem tested positive for an increased T/E ratio (> 10). Mr. Overeem will need to appear before the Commission if he seeks licensure.”
A testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio (T/E ratio) of 10-to-1 is beyond allowable levels, though it’s not necessarily an indication of the use of a banned substance. Most people have a T/E ratio of 1-to-1; while the NSAC permits one as high as 6-to-1, Overeem’s level of greater than 10-to-1 is well beyond that, and Overeem will either have to present a case to the commission as to why he should still be allowed a licence, or a second “B” sample of the fighter’s urine will need to test negative for him to be able to proceed with the fight.
“I am beyond, beyond pissed about this,” UFC president Dana White said on a previously arranged conference call with select Canadian media Wednesday afternoon. “He looked at me in the face and swore he would pass the drug test.”
It was bad timing for White, but good timing for reporters scheduled to talk to the UFC boss about the current season of The Ultimate Fighter (which airs on Rogers-owned FX Canada and Sportsnet). He was understandably not in the best mood to do so but good on him for keeping the appointment and not cancelling the call.
White got hot-tempered during the first part of the conference call, even as he graciously fielded the expected questions about the failed drug test, which he and the media had only learned about roughly a half hour earlier.
White admitted that he didn’t know all the details that led to the failed drug test but he was so angry that he didn’t even want to talk to Overeem.
“It’s beyond comprehension,” White said. “(If you’re a fighter who knows you’re going to be tested and you do something to fail), you’re an absolute moron, a brain-dead absolute f—ing dummy. It goes beyond a guy having any common sense whatsoever.”
White said they did not have a “Plan B” should Overeem be denied his fight licence. He said they need to wait to see what the commission rules before they can make alternate plans.
The Dutch fighter, who joined the UFC late last year as the former Strikeforce heavyweight champion, was granted a temporary fight licence for his bout against Brock Lesnar at UFC 141 on Dec. 30, but right now he does not have a fight licence.
Asked how much money Overeem could expect to lose by being pulled out of the fight, White said: “S–tloads.”
White was noncommittal on what would happen to Overeem regarding his future with the company.
“It doesn’t look good, does it?” he said.
UFC 146, which takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, is the first all-heavyweight pay-per-view card in the organization’s history.
Should Overeem be deemed ineligible to compete on May 26, expect the UFC to bump former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir to the main event to challenge Dos Santos.
Mir, who is currently scheduled to face former champion Cain Velasquez in a co-main event ostensibly to determine the next No. 1 contender, is on a three-fight win streak and is coming off an impressive — and memorable — submission win over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira last December in Toronto. In the fight, he broke Big Nog’s arm with a textbook kimura, becoming the only man to submit the former Pride and interim UFC heavyweight champion — nearly three years after becoming the first to knock him out at UFC 92.
The 32-year-old Mir first won the UFC title when he submitted Tim Sylvia — also breaking his arm — at UFC 48 in June 2004. But he had to vacate the belt following a motorcycle accident which kept him out of action for over 18 months.
He later captured the interim championship when he defeated Nogueira in December 2008, but he lost to then-champion Lesnar in a title-unifcation bout at UFC 100.
Late last year there were questions whether Overeem would be able to get a licence for his bout against Lesnar due to complications getting a proper pre-fight drug test sample to the NSAC from a lab in England. Mir said after his win on Dec. 10 that he would love to step in and face Lesnar if necessary. However, Overeem was able to get the necessary results to the commission in time.
It appears Mir may get another chance to step in as a late replacement in a main event — only this time, it would be for a title.
NOTES: White had only positive things to say about the first TUF Live season, insisting that he wasn’t just being a promoter … White said current interim UFC welterweight title-holder Carlos Condit spoke to him recently to ask how long champion Georges St-Pierre would really be out. “I told him we expect Georges to return in November, and he decided he’s going to wait (to fight him)” … Asked about when fans could expect to see a Canadian edition of The Ultimate Fighter, White said: “I’m going to go out on a limb and say we’ll have this deal done by the end of the year.”
